New trial date for man facing sodomy charge

A former Simmons Gap Road resident who was scheduled to have a trial this morning on two counts of forcible sodomy will face a jury in November instead.

Darby Lowe, Albemarle deputy commonwealth’s attorney, said that Timothy Ray Shifflett’s most recent forcible sodomy indictments allowed him to get a new trial date. The August indictments, which supercede the first two forcible sodomy indictments from April, now carry a penalty of mandatory life in prison if Shifflett is convicted.

Shifflett can face that maximum penalty under the new indictments, Lowe said, because he was convicted of certain sex offenses and then released before he was charged again in connection with another sex offense. According to the Virginia State Police’s sex offender registry, Shifflett was convicted of forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual battery in 1995.

According to court documents, the 46-year-old Shifflett was charged with the recent forcible sodomy counts in connection with incidents involving a child under 13 years old between September 2005 and July 2006.

Shifflett’s new trial date is Nov. 19.